News | April 19, 2013

Street Performer Hauls 700 Pound Baby Grand Piano Around NYC — Video

News | April 19, 2013

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There’s no shortage of talented street performers in a city as artistic as NYC. Walk through any subways station, park or even busy street and you’re bound to see plenty of talented musicians, including classically trained pianist, Colin Huggins. But unlike his musical counterparts, Huggins hauls his 700 pound baby grand piano wherever he goes.

“To a certain degree, part of it was creating a spectacle,” he told Reuters. “You couldn’t just do it. It was hard to do it if you’re doing something very ordinary but if you were doing something extraordinary that people didn’t see all the time then you were more likely to gather a crowd.”

Despite his following, Huggins admitted that living as an artist isn’t easy, especially in a city as cut throat as New York. To keep his piano in tip-top condition, Huggins hires someone to help him move it to and from his storage locker and another person to tune the delicate instrument each week.

Though he prefers to play classical music, his repertoire changes depending on the audience. “I’ve had to kind of figure out how to play things that, I don’t know, that, that can still grab people and kind of go beyond just the fact that there’s a piano there and that there is someone playing it.”

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